Free Republic

I have never been more than an occasional viewer of Fr. Robert Barron's Word on Fire chats. His recent televised interview with EWTN's Catherine Szeltner put paid to whatever interest I had. Newly elevated to an auxiliary bishop in the sprawling L.A. diocese, now-Bp. Barron was in Baltimore for his initial appearance among the USCCB. Ms. Szeltner was on hand to ask how Catholics should respond to the slaughter in Paris. "How should they react?" she wondered, as if Catholics were dependent on guidance in their attitude toward carnage. This was hardly a spontaneous interview. Chairs had been set. The...

If you're not engaged politically, you're not much of a Christian. Standing aloof from the critical issues of our era is hardly Christ-like. And, failing to be engaged, informed, and active is failing to fulfill the law of Christ. These statements may sound intolerant, and certainly insensitive, but Christ wasn't someone who engaged in faux compassion. He loved enough to confront evil, even if it meant bruising ego or offending someone's sense of self or propriety. After all, the "wages of sin is death," and the compassionate don't stand idly by while an ocean of humanity cascades off a precipice....

A woman in Massachusetts is causing a stir on the Internet after a photograph of her wearing a colander on her head in her driver’s license photo have been circulating the web — all in the name of freedom of religion. On Friday, Nov. 13, Lindsay Miller of Lowell, Mass., told the Associated Press that she “absolutely loves the history and the story” of Pastafarians, a religious group that is otherwise known as the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. She opted to wear a strainer on her head as part of her religious observance, she added, much the same...

History hasn't looked kindly on the Catholic Church during WW II. The conventional narrative is not the whole storyAt six in the morning on Sunday, 12 March, a procession snaked toward the bronze doors of St. Peter’s. Swiss Guards led the line, followed by barefoot friars with belts of rope. Pius took his place at the end, borne on a portable throne. Ostrich plumes stirred silently to either side, like quotation marks. Pius entered the basilica to a blare of silver trumpets and a burst of applause. Through pillars of incense he blessed the faces. At the High Altar, attendants...

Europe is the Faith–so Hilaire Belloc declared in 1920. Nearly a century later, the faith burns as bright as it did then, but it is Africa, not Europe, that is carrying the torch of orthodoxy.Such is the unavoidable take-away from last month’s synod on the family. With prominent Western traditionalists like Cardinal Raymond Burke sidelined, the prelates from sub-Saharan Africa became the outspoken voices of orthodoxy.Cardinal Robert Sarah, a Guinea native and the head of the Congregation for Divine Worship, made headlines in a floor speech (fittingly, in this context, they are called “interventions”) likening gender ideology and ISIS to...

Limitless and eternity walk in tandem, In other words they both speak I AM, The power and knowledge of all that is or can be, The the sum of which is infinity, to walk and breathe yeah exist in and through all, Understanding that there is no wall, Nothing can stop the synergy, Of The Creator for I AM HE, Job 38 38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, 2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Gird up now your loins like a man, and I will demand of you,...

Christianity is under attack from a thousand different directions all at once, and yet many believers have turned their guns on one another. This war among Christians seems to intensify with each passing year, and believers are often fighting for some of the stupidest reasons you can possibly imagine. Meanwhile, people are leaving our churches in droves and church attendance is way down. This is especially true of younger Americans. According to an incredible new report that was just released by the Pew Research Center, only 27 percent of all Millennials (U.S. adults born since 1990) attend religious services on...

A former church secretary was sentenced Wednesday to six years of probation for stealing about $30,000 from the town of Burke church where she worked and had been a longtime member. Her lawyer, Joel Winnig, and Assistant District Attorney Paul Humphrey had agreed to recommend 90 days in jail as a condition of six years of probation, but Circuit Judge Ellen Berz did not order the jail time.

“Idolatry happens when we take good things and make them ultimate things.”  ~Tim Keller The following comparisons are meant to be provocative and evocative. Even if stark statements like these generalize and absolutize a bit too much, one thing I have learned from reading the reformers is that the discipline of "dialectic," as they called it (roughly, the practice of pitting ideas and statements against each other for the sake of disputation and dialogue), yields a lot of helpful clarifications. So, I encourage you to take these in that light.These observations have overflowed from the boiling pot of my own wayward heart and...

Here we go again: another liberal narrative burned to a crisp. Over a two-week period in October, an arsonist targeted seven churches in the St. Louis area -- including several in Black Lives Matter protest hotspot Ferguson, Mo. The Atlantic magazine, invoking the "long history of terrorism against black churches in America,” lamented that the crime spree had been "slow to get the same attention” in the local and national media as another string of church arsons that occurred earlier this summer. Reminder: Several of those hyped hate crimes against "black churches” had been committed by black suspects; a significant...

Dear Raymond: Thanks for your kind letter. I appreciate your willingness to reach out to me for advice concerning recent developments in your church home. Your question to me was pretty direct. Given your pastor's recent declaration that he intends to grow the church membership by 10,000 in five years, how should you express your concerns that numbers have now replaced the Gospel as the focal point of your church's mission? My answer will also be direct. In my view, you should not bother voicing your concerns to your pastor. You should leave your church immediately. That may sound extreme...

I was on Security detail at my church again.  They keep the temperature cool, so I was wearing a jacket.  One of the difficulties of open carry is that it becomes awkward when you are wearing clothes to keep warm.  So I was carrying casually concealed. Glocks are popular I did not mind the temperature.  I am acclimated to warmer temps; but it is easier to for me to put on a jacket than it is for someone who likes it a bit cooler to remove their skin. I noticed five open carriers, and at least one other concealed...

Pope Francis in January will publish the first book of his papacy, written in an interview format with Italian journalist and Vatican expert Andrea Tornielli. The book's world-wide release on Jan. 12 will coincide with a special jubilee "year of mercy" that Pope Francis has called to reach out to alienated members of the church and to non-Catholics in need. In the new book, "The Name of God Is Mercy: A Conversation with Andrea Tornielli," the pope "discusses mercy, a subject of central importance in his teaching and testimony, and in addition sums up other ideas-reconciliation, the closeness of God-that...

The Christian owners of Gortz Haus Gallery in Grimes, Iowa, had to close down their business completely after they were charged with discrimination for refusing to hold a same-sex wedding at the venue, but now they say they have a reason to be "pretty tickled." Richard Odgaard and his wife, Betty, had to close their business, a gift shop and bistro, in August, about two years after they told a gay couple from Des Moines their facility couldn't host a same-sex wedding. The Odgaards were subsequently forced to pay a $5,000 settlement for refusing to host a same-sex wedding ceremony....

The Rev. Billy Graham has issued a written warning to America's churches: "Prepare for persecution." The renowned preacher and founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association penned a commentary that was posted on his website last week and is slated to appear in the November edition of Decision magazine. In the magazine, Graham notes that the American church has been largely unfamiliar with persecution, writing that this "immunity to persecution that Christians in our country have experienced in the past two or three centuries is unusual." "As a whole, our nation does not know what privation is. We do not...

Yes, he said it over the phone to his favorite journalist, Italian editor Eugenio Scalfari of La Repubblica, in a conversation on October 28, revealed by the latter in an editorial published this Sunday. There is no reason to doubt its accuracy. We are way past the time of doubting the accuracy of the Scalfari quotes. Not now, that the papal interviews to Scalfari have been published in the Vatican website, that they have been occasionally published by the Vatican publishing house (LEV) itself - for instance, as part of the book to the right. It was a direct quote...

Nothing is sacred. They are moving Germans out of their homes to accommodate the invaders. They are housing the migrants at Buchenwald and Dachau. Now this. Despite the ongoing harassment of and violence against Middle Eastern Christians by Muslim migrants, these very same migrants are being moved into churches which necessitates the removal of the cross, the altar, the pulpit and the seats. Will the church vet the Muslims who took part in the genocide of Christians in the Middle East? Translation of this article in the Handelsblatt.com:

I have good news and bad news. We live in the age of Fatima. So we know how this all ends: “In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.” It is quite natural, reasonable, and proper to view the current events in the Church and wonder where this time fits within the big prophetical scheme of things. It isn’t uncommon, unfortunately, to see people claiming that this or that current personage is the False Prophet or...

A Church Near Ground Zero Reimagined St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Designed by Santiago Calatrava By Ralph Gardner Jr. Oct. 15, 2014 8:54 p.m. ET It took two hours of talking with architect Santiago Calatrava—we touched on rock climbing, the Swiss cheese dish raclette, Rembrandt’s self-portraits and New York City’s tradition of great civic architecture—before I realized how appropriate the placement is of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which will overlook the 9/11 Memorial. And not just because it’s the rebirth of the church, a fixture in the neighborhood since the 19th century until it was destroyed by the collapse...

The ruins of a 16th century colonial church have re-emerged from a reservoir due to the lack of rain in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. This year's drought has gripped the Grijalba river, which feeds the Nezahualcoyotl reservoir, dropping the water level by 75 feet. It is the second time the church has emerged from underwater. In 2002, the water was so low visitors could walk inside the church. The church, in the Quechula locality, is the work of a group of monks headed by Friar Bartolome de la Casas, who arrived in the region inhabited by the Zoque...